Well at least it does not look harmful. It looks odd to me, too, but I do not use Joomla. Maybe this is how they do things.

Anyway - in your place - I'd look at the result. You know, browse to the page and use "show source code" in the browser to check what the html says it does.
The browser (or http://www.telerik.com/fiddler) will probably be able to tell you also, if you produce a HTTP 404 this way. And although we might understand or not understand the PHP - as long as the page itself runs...

It looks odd to me, too, but I do not use Joomla. Maybe this is how they do things.

Except the author said

I've noticed this code when I viewed page source:

So this is after Joomla has finished in the process - this is the final output sent to the browser - and it is not valid.
One outside chance is there is some javascript that runs and modifies that link after page load but not sure I see the advantage.

At least, it's not harmful for the site (if I understood this part right). It's strange that serious commercial developers from Germany can't understand the wrong code. And when I brought it to their attention, they gave me that explanation, written above. Maybe they know something we don't.
Anyhow, if I have nothing to worry about, then I guess I could close this question.

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